A 71-YEAR-OLD man was rushed to hospital suffering from chest pains after a violent attack on his car by a gang of youths.

Derek Houghton had to spend the night in Halton Hospital after he witnessed a 10-strong group of yobs 'flipping' his car.

Mr Houghton, who suffers chronic chest ailments and has only recently shrugged off bronchitis and pneumonia, was settling down to watch TV on Saturday when he heard 'an almighty thump' outside his ground floor flat in Runnymede Court, William Street.

He said: 'At first I though it was a firework, but then I looked out of the window to see my car on its side.

'It almost knocked me out and I started getting a pain in my chest.'

Mr Houghton says other frail residents could not believe what was going on as the yobs set about kicking and jumping on his vehicle.

He says two brave neighbours, including an elderly female warden, went outside to tackle the yobs.

He said: 'The warden and my neighbours went out to have a word with the yobs but they gave them some right choice language back, it was disgusting.

'My neighbours, like me, are pensioners, and we don't need this every night. We have had to put up with this for months and we can't take it much longer.'

Ambulance, police and fire crews attended the scene, and medics stretchered Mr Houghton into an ambulance where it was deemed 'safer'.

Mr Houghton said: 'The ambulance team said there was no way they were going to let me stay the night while this was going on.

'They took me to Halton Hospital and checked me out. But they reckon I could have had a heart attack with all the worry.

'I even had to stay the night because of these hooligans - it's a disgrace, but they won't get the better of us.'

Firefighters managed to upright Mr Houghton's vehicle, but he and other residents are still worried the yobs will return.

He added: 'It was terrible to see my car like that. There was petrol leaking from it and it could have went up. I just don't know what will happen next time.'